1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a unique undergarment designed to be worn by a patient during surgery. In particular, the undergarment provides patients undergoing surgery with peace of mind that their private parts will not be unnecessarily exposed during an operation or otherwise during their medical treatment.
2. Description of the Related Art
An almost universal rule followed by the majority of, if not all, hospitals today is that any patient going to the operating room for surgery must go clothed in at most a surgical gown. In particular, patients are not allowed to wear undergarments when going to surgery. This rule arose in the infancy of modern medicine based on two reasons. First, when modern medicine was first getting started, people were not able to nor did they care to keep themselves as clean as they do today. Thus, undergarments were not allowed in surgery for hygienic reasons in that the patient's undergarments were often soiled. The second reason for the universal rule was that undergarments during this time were predominantly made from nylon which was susceptible to sparking when passed over another piece of nylon. The anesthesia used during this time was highly explosive, making any source of spark or flame strictly forbidden in the operating room.
Although these two reasons are no longer valid today, the practice of having the patient remove all undergarments and wear at most a surgical gown when going into surgery still persists. In fact, patients are often clothed in only a hospital gown when staying in a hospital, whether surgery will be performed or not. The surgical gowns of today are made of very thin material and are completely slit open in the back with only a single tie located approximately at waist height provided to hold the back of the gown closed. The gown is uncomfortable for most patients to wear because the tie may come undone without the patient being aware of it. In addition, even when the tie is secure, the design of the surgical gown is such that the back of the gown cannot provide adequate coverage of the patient's back and buttocks. Further, once in surgery, the tie is undone and the gown is typically pushed aside for the surgery, thereby completely exposing the unconscious patient.
Surgery can be at worst terrifying and at its best strange and uncomfortable. Often, the outcome of the surgery is unpredictable. This, coupled with the fact that the patient will be anesthetized throughout the process, can make surgery a frightening experience. Thus, anything which can help ease the patient's concerns about the surgery itself is quite helpful. One area in which patients experience a high degree of discomfort is when they are asked to wear only the surgical gown without any undergarments into the surgery. Patients know that they will be unconscious and thus will lose control over the exposure of their body, in particular, their private parts.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an inexpensive, disposable undergarment for patients undergoing surgery or spending time in a hospital in general.
It is another object of this invention to provide versions of the undergarment which can be worn by both men and women.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a surgical undergarment which increases the hygienic aspects of surgery.
It is still another object of this invention to protect the perineum and other sensitive skin from the iodine preparation used in surgery especially when surgery will be performed on the lower extremities.
It is yet another object of this invention to contain the spread of contamination by a surgical patient's accidental urination or expression of feces while in the operating room.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an undergarment to cover patients staying in the hospital.
To achieve these and other objects which will become readily apparent upon a reading of the attached disclosure and appended claims, a disposable undergarment is provided. Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.